


Our Nightmare

by EquinoxWolf



Category: Star Fox Series
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dreamsharing, F/M, Nightmares, Relationship Discussions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26492389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EquinoxWolf/pseuds/EquinoxWolf
Summary: Sometimes, sharing a dream with someone can be a wonderful experience. Not always, though. After one terrible nightmare, Fox and Krystal are left wondering about the future of their relationship.
Relationships: Krystal/Fox McCloud
Kudos: 7





	Our Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Professor Slaad on FanFiction.Net for beta reading this story and for getting me into the right emotional state to put this idea to paper.

_Life was perfect. It could not be any better. With the universe at their fingertips, nothing felt impossible. It was just Fox and Krystal, alone together. He loved her and she loved him. Each kiss lit up the darkness. Every touch made them soar like the free wind._

_Side by side, they of Star Fox flew across the expanse of space. Enemy starfighters swam around them like lazy fish. Easy pickings for two of the greatest pilots the Lylat System had ever known. Fox smiled as he watched Krystal fly around her foes with the grace of a swan. Suddenly, laser fire struck her Cloudrunner. His fearful heart leapt into his throat._

_Thankfully, Krystal lived. Just barely, though. Within the cavernous hanger of the_ Great Fox _, Fox told Krystal to leave; to go somewhere safe, where she would never be in danger again. She pleaded and refused. Tears glistened down her face. Alas, Fox could not be swayed. He could not lose her. So, Krystal left him._

_She felt rejected. She felt scorned. She hurt inside beyond any pain she could otherwise imagine. Fox had broken her heart. Now Krystal wanted to break his. He did not love her. So, she would side with those who hated him. The Star Wolf squadron appeared before her. The tall and dark Panther beckoned Krystal with open arms. She fell into them, bringing her lips against his._

_The Lylat System then fell under attack. Vile fishmen flew their ships through burning cities, destroying all within their wake. Fox fought against them, but he was alone. He needed friends to fight such an army. Crossing the stars, he found Krystal once more. He asked for her help._

_“I’m sorry. You broke my heart,” she told him coldly, then flew away alongside her new beloved, Panther._

_She would show him. She would prove that she was better than him. And Krystal knew how to do it. Andross had been the most brilliant scientist to ever live. Surely, his technology could allow Star Wolf to defeat their enemies. All of them._

_Krystal guided the Wolfens to the harsh, golden deserts of Titania. Star Fox was there. They wanted to help. Oh, Fox would help her, alright. He would make his comeuppance even easier to realise. While Star Fox fought against Andross’s defences, Star Wolf seized their prize._

_Wolf O’Donnell offered Fox to deliver a message to Krystal. “After all, this was her plan.” Betrayal and shock wracked his heart. Fox gave chase. Yet no matter how fast he flew, he could not catch up to Krystal. Then, in the depths of space, the twisted face of Pigma Dengar; the treacherous swine turned into a biomechanical horror; barred Fox’s way._

_Andross’s device made the seas of Venom safe to traverse. Krystal and her team defeated the fishmen’s emperor, ending the war at last. While her partners celebrated, doubt clouded her mind. Remorse tinged her soul. Yet, Krystal suppressed these feelings. Peace was restored. That was all that mattered._

_No one cheered Krystal’s name when she returned home. She felt their disgust. She heard their jeers. “Traitor. Traitor. Traitor.” Guilt sprouted inside Krystal’s chest. It grew and spread throughout her, choking out her thoughts. She had no friends left. No place to call home. To hide from the shame and the hatred, she ran away. As far away from Lylat as she could go._

_Her fur turned purple and her soul black. A gun in her hand snuffed the life out of faceless sinners. Her past haunted her. It cursed her. She was Kursed._

_Alone and in pain, Fox abandoned the Lylat System and all its reminders. In an indistinguishable region of space, he found himself standing in front of a scarred vixen with purple fur. He did not recognise her._

* * *

Fox awoke abruptly to darkness. His heart hammered inside his chest. His breath came and went in shallow, frantic bursts. Slowly, he realised that he was in bed. A second body under the sheets in front of Fox showed that he was not alone. It calmed him.

His bed mate’s frame rose and fell in quick successions. His ears caught her shallow breath. It did not come from someone who was sleeping, but very much awake and distressed. Fox propped onto one arm to place his palm atop her tense shoulder.

“Krystal?”

The love of his life snapped her head towards him. In the moonlight, Fox could see her tears. Wide, blue eyes stared at him as though he might disappear if she blinked.

“Are you okay?” Fox asked.

Krystal swallowed. She tried to speak, yet no words came from her. Instead, she shook her head. Fox turned her into his arms. Krystal’s crushed around his chest. Her sobs broke freely into his shoulder.

“It’s okay,” he whispered as he stroked her hair soothingly. “It’s okay. It was just a dream. Just a bad dream.”

A horrible, terrible, awful nightmare.

* * *

Fox set the cup of tea in front of Krystal. Steam wafted around her nose, blown away by her sullen exhales. Fox set his own cup down and sat across from her at the dining table. It was past three in the morning, though neither of them felt like sleeping again after what had just happened. When Krystal refused to let go of him, even after she stopped crying, Fox knew that something was terribly wrong.

“That was one hell of a nightmare,” he said calmly. “Are you okay?”

Krystal sniffed. “I’m so sorry, Fox. It’s my fault that happened.”

Fox took her hand in his. “Hey. That’s not true. Everyone has bad dreams sometimes. I know I’ve had plenty before I met you.”

“Except nobody else is able to share their dreams with you,” Krystal hissed bitterly. She wiped her reddened eyes. “I’m usually able to tell when we’re having a nightmare and steer it into something more pleasant. But that one was especially bad. I got swept away in it. I couldn’t tell what was real or imaginary anymore.”

Fox gently squeezed Krystal’s hand. They had been a couple for several years now. During that time, Krystal had often linked their minds subconsciously as they slept using her telepathy. The dreams they induced together were often deep and lucid. More than once, Fox likened those dreams to spending time with Krystal for eight additional hours with no disturbances or distractions. They could walk along tropical coastlines, fly through open skies without their starships, and dance on the moon until morning came. Sharing these dreams were among the best things in Fox’s life. That was, until something like this happened.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

Krystal took a tentative sip of her tea. “It started off so well. We were on a mission together. We were unstoppable. But then I was attacked.”

Another fascinating element to these dreams was how the memories of them lasted so clearly afterwards. Fox helped Krystal recount the sequence. Silently, she cried more with each passing minute.

“I think I understand what happened now,” Krystal sniffled. “That moment my ship was hit was when your part of the dream went bad. Then mine started to when you made me leave the team. After that, we just kept reacting to each other’s nightmare, making things worse the longer they went. And then… at the end…”

Her voice broke. Krystal buried her face into her palm, unable to continue. Fox held her fingers dearly. “It’s okay, Krystal. It was all just a dream. It’s over now.” Soft sobs shook her frame. “I’m sorry for what I did in there. I can’t believe that I drove you away like that.”

“It’s something that I’ve always been afraid of,” Krystal hiccupped. “That for some reason, you’d think that I’m not good enough to be on your team. So, you would send me away. And then I would lose everything that I loved.”

She sniffed deeply. “Most of our friends have more experience than I do. Sometimes it feels like I’m only on the team because I was available when Peppy wanted to retire. I was just convenient to have around. I didn’t actually deserve my place with Star Fox.”

“Krystal…” Fox’s ears drooped. “You are good enough. Sure, you’ve only been a pilot for a few years, but you’ve quickly become one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Fox released her hand and tore both of his over his scalp. “I’ll admit, though… For a while, I’ve been scared that something bad might happen to you; that you’d get hurt… or worse. I promise that I would never force you to leave Star Fox. But God help me if I didn’t at least consider it! I’d do almost anything to keep you safe.”

Krystal gave a sad nod. “As would I, which is why everything that came after was so horrifying to me. Why would I have joined up with Wolf’s team just to get back at you? I can’t believe I planned for them to hurt you like that! What was I thinking?”

“Honestly, that double-cross thing wasn’t the part that I hated most,” Fox murmured.

A humorous smirk finally cracked on Krystal’s lips. “I’m guessing it was you who dreamed of me making out with Panther? It certainly wasn’t my doing.”

Fox drank his tea and gave a hapless shrug. “I… might have been worried that Panther’s flirting might win you over. That you’d one day get tired of me and leave me for him.”

Krystal’s smile became full of warmth and love. “Fox, I promise that will never happen. Panther might be charming, but I’ve read his mind. Whatever he feels for me only runs skin-deep.” Her expression soured. “And whenever he points his weapons at you or anyone else on the team, his thoughts turn as vile as Leon’s. I could never love someone like him.”

Fox managed to smile. “That’s a relief.”

“Besides,” Krystal chuckled, “it’s not like I can have children with a cat, now is it?”

She clearly meant that as a joke, but Fox’s heart sank like a stone. He knew that being the last known surviving member of her species weighed heavily on Krystal’s mind. That was why she often spoke about wanting to raise a large family, so that she could give the Cerinians the best possible chance of coming back from the brink of extinction. Fox’s fingers returned to hold Krystal’s.

“I know that it was just a dream, but I can’t shake the feelings that came with it,” he said. “It really does scare me that one day we could fly out on a mission and something terrible might happen to one of us.”

“I know.” Krystal stroked his knuckles underneath her thumb. “I worry about it, too.” Silence hung between them. “So, what should we do?”

Fox rubbed his face. “You know… Maybe we could just pack it in? Retire from Star Fox and get normal jobs? Settle down. Buy a house. Get married? Start that family we always talked about? Honestly, I wouldn’t mind that.”

A blush burned on Krystal’s muzzle. “I’d like that. Are you sure that you want to let go of Star Fox, though? I know it’s important to you.”

“I’m sure,” Fox said without hesitation. “I started Star Fox again all those years ago to honour my dad. But you are far more important to me. I also don’t want to leave my family behind like my dad did. I don’t want to have to worry about risking it all just for a paycheque. I’d much rather be able to spend the rest of my life with you and watch our kids grow up.”

Krystal giggled. He loved her sound. “There you go talking about commitment and children again. You haven’t even proposed to me yet.”

“I could get down on one knee right now, if you want,” Fox smirked. “But I haven’t rehearsed anything. And I don’t have a ring yet.”

“That’s okay. I can wait.” Her lips pulled upward. “But now that I know what’s coming, I’ll expect something special in the future.”

Fox chuckled. “I’ll make sure it’s worth it.” He drank more from his tea. “But everything else we talked about… Retiring and all that… We can discuss it more in the morning.”

“Sure,” Krystal nodded. It was a lot of big decisions to make. They would be wiser to think carefully before they acted on anything.

To further lighten the mood, Fox and Krystal began talking about the more ridiculous parts of their dream. Apparently, that horror movie with the merfolk from a few nights ago freaked Fox out a lot more than he had previously let on. The bit involving Pigma Dengar had likely been Krystal’s imagination at play. His transformation into an aparoid puppet two years ago still haunted her. Now that they were awake, those elements had felt so out of place compared to everything else. Fox and Krystal both laughed at it all.

They finished their mugs and left them by the sink to wash after breakfast. As they returned to the bedroom, Krystal stopped and draped her arms around Fox, pulling him into a deep kiss.

“I love you, Krystal,” he said when their lips parted.

“And I love you,” she whispered. Krystal kissed him once more. She pressed deeper against him. Their chests touched. Krystal’s palms roamed over the lean muscles underneath Fox’s shirt. His throat closed up as he pulled away.

“Uh… Krystal? Are you sure you want to do this now? It’s really late.”

“How can I sleep after having such a bad dream?” she provoked him. “Please, Fox? It’ll help me forget all about it. It’d make me feel better.” Krystal smirked coyly up at him. “And maybe we could get started on that family we talked about?”

Ah, what the hell. “How could I ever say no to you?” Fox smiled. He kissed her fully and lifted Krystal into his arms. From there, he carried her to the bed. There were no more bad dreams that night; only love and hope for a long, happy future together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for taking the time to read this short story. Status update on my next multi-chapter Star Fox fic is that the draft is in progress and I'll start to publish very soon.


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